The autonomy of the arbitration clause is an ambiguous principle which contains
several shutters. It's sometimes used - traditionally - to refer that the arbitration
clause must (agreement) be treated and appreciated separately from the main
contract. This conception of autonomy gives rise to two consequences: first, the
arbitration agreement is unaffected by the invalidity of the main contract and
second, it may be governed by a Law different from that governing the main
contract. However, the evolution of this traditional sense has given another shutter
to the principal of the autonomy which refers to the arbitration agreement from "all
national laws". This new concept of autonomy is entirely different and which
means that the existence and the validity of the arbitration clause must be examined
under special material mIes, isolating the arbitration agreement from the conflict of
laws but with full respect to the international law.
In addition, the link this principle has with certain effects of the arbitration
agreement proves to be delicate. Indeed, the principle of autonomy is often
associated with another principle of the international arbitration which is
kompetenz-kompetenz. The close links that the two principles maintain generate a
risk of amalgam between two mIes which are actually different. On another level,
would be blamed, in the name of the legal inconsistency, the capacity of the
principle of autonomy "of coexisting" with another characteristic of the arbitration
clause, namely, its transmissibility. We will try to clarify this "doubtful"
articulation.